Grounding Incident & Investigations

Ship grounding is the impact of a ship on seabed or waterway side. It may be intentional, as in beaching to land crew or cargo, and careening, for maintenance or repair, or unintentional, as in a marine accident.

When unintentional, grounding may result simply in stranding, with or without damage to the submerged part of the ship’s hull. Breach of the hull may lead to significant flooding, which in the absence of containment in watertight bulkheads may substantially compromise the ship's structural integrity, stability, and safety.

This investigation report refers to the grounding of a general cargo ship caused by the inaccurate positioning of the vessel.At CJA we conduct Grounding Investigations and produce accurate and requisite reports which is summarized under the following heads:

• Type of casualty
• No.
• Title:
• Summary:
• Safety
• Recommendations:
• Date:
• Source:

Groundings in which pilots are involved are among the most expensive. A study by the International Group of P&I Clubs estimated that although groundings only account for 3 per cent of incidents resulting insurance claims of more than $100,000 they accounted for 35 per cent of the cost of claims at a cost of $7.85m for each incident. That compares with collisions, which accounted for 24 per cent of incidents and costs, and fixed and floating object claims which accounted for 64 per cent of incidents but 33 per cent of claims.